Barcelona Indebted to Mesmeric Front 3 Again as Catalans Tighten League Grip
Barcelona's performance against Real Sociedad was as bright as the sunshine that bathed the Camp Nou throughout this early kick-off on Saturday.
New La Real manager Eusebio Sacristan, returning to the club where his most recent contribution was to oversee an underperforming Barca B side, might well have looked at the teamsheet with a sense of trepidation.
Luis Enrique's decision to field as strong a lineup as possible was vindicated as early as the fourth minute, when a slide rule Neymar pass sent Luis Suarez clear in a one-on-one with Geronimo Rulli, which the 'keeper did well to win.
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The movement of the pair up front, along with that of Lionel Messi, was a joy to watch and in stark contrast to that of their opponents.
It followed the pattern of the last few games, whereby the Brazilian, Uruguayan and, latterly, the Argentinian are on the front foot from the get-go.
Indeed, Barca's ability to defend from the front and keep much of the pressure off of their back line has largely been why the Catalans have swept all before them recently.
It is perhaps the reason why the Blaugrana sit proudly atop La Liga.
MSN are not just about goals, although there have been plenty. When the going gets tough, theirs is a work ethic unmatched at this juncture. Witness the difference between them and Real Madrid's front line in El Clasico by way of a recent example.
Such an involvement in proceedings inevitably leads to closer attention from the opposition, and all three were clattered during a robust first-half performance from La Real.
Sharp intakes of breath were evident all round as both Neymar and Suarez stayed down for longer than necessary at one point, the Brazilian recovering to open the scoring with his 12th goal in his last 10 appearances, per WhoScored.com.
He, more than anyone, has continued to step up and take the responsibility he assumed in Messi's absence, and it's easy to see why Sky Sports' Guillem Balague and others rate the youngster as the second-best player in the world behind Messi:
"If you see him play he starts on the left and comes inside a lot to get involved with the ball and he has doubled the amount of touches of the ball, assists and goals he had in the same period with Lionel Messi in the side as without him.
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On at least half-a-dozen occasions during the match, Neymar continued to evidence his growing maturity as a player.
Whether it was delivering mesmeric through balls for colleagues, tracking back into his own half to assist his full-back or making incisive, darting and purposeful runs, it was another all-action performance.
Suarez, too, just cannot stop scoring, his second sumptuous volley in a week getting the Camp Nou crowd off of their feet and providing the Uruguayan with a goal for the seventh successive game.
Long gone are the days when the locals were unsure about his signing. The No. 9 has definitely been claimed as one of their own now.
Although relatively quiet by his own standards, perhaps down to a lack of match sharpness, Messi still provided some of the game's outstanding moments, seeing passes and angles mere footballing mortals do not.
A last-minute tap-in was a just reward for his efforts throughout.
The hugely professional nature of the trio arguably forces managers to adapt their game plans accordingly. Eusebio, for example, had picked a 4-4-2 formatio but was quickly forced into a 4-5-1 to deal with the omnipresent threat of MSN.
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